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Like most women, I have felt the chill of cat calls, and resentment toward the ubiquitous phrase “Why don’t you give me a smile today?”

Like most women, I have taken a self-defense class and considered taking more.

Like most women, I fear the kind of attack that is statistically very low: stranger rape.

Like most women, I have been sexually harassed in one of the jobs that I have held.

Like most women, as a girl, I grew up feeling like a type of prey for boys.

Like most women, I know a female family member who is a survivor of sexual assault.

Like most women, I know a woman who was sexually assaulted and never told anyone for fear of not being believed.

Like most women, I have survived an attempted sexual assault.

Like most women, I have known women in abusive relationships.

Like most women, when I was a teenager, I was in a relationship where someone hit me.

Like most women, for a long time I internalized my anger, confusion and shame.

Like most women, I yearn for a world without sexual violence.

Like most women, I wish this world would come soon.

Like most women, I know changes will not come about unless I speak my truth, encourage others to speak their truth, get involved and stay involved.

I was 10 years old when the first “Take Back the Night” marches were held in New York and San Francisco in 1978. These rallies began in the U.K. with women highlighting women’s lack of physical safety at night. These campaigns grew into a much larger set of responses to protest and raise awareness about many facets of sexual violence. Sexual violence is a broad term and includes rape, incest, child sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual exploitation, human trafficking, unwanted sexual contact, sexual harassment, exposure and voyeurism.

My experiences listed above reflect the continuum of many women’s experiences with sexual violence in the U.S. and globally. The most common form of violence experienced by women globally is physical violence inflicted by an intimate partner. On average, at least one in three women is beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused by an intimate partner in the course of her lifetime (U.N. fact sheet).

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Why April? As demonstrations and violence prevention efforts grew over the last two decades, they often coalesced around domestic violence. In the 1980s October became Domestic Violence Awareness Month. By the late 1990s many sexual assault advocates were using the first week of April as a time to focus attention on broad sexual assault issues. The National Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCASA) and other groups began advocating for a month-long focus on sexual violence.

This year’s campaign is focused on youth. This campaign provides tools on healthy adolescent sexuality and engaging youth in activism about sexual violence prevention. According to recent research that appeared in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, we know that one in six boys and one in four girls will experience a sexual assault before the age 18. We also know according to CDC data that approximately 9 percent of high school students report being hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the 12 months before surveyed.

April is a time to step up our knowledge and prevention efforts to help make our communities safe from sexual violence. For creative ways to get involved check out the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website nsvrc.org.

Michele Tracy Berger is a professor, creativity coach and writer. You can reach her at at mtb@creativetickle.com